


Start Again

by Juniorhuntersam



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Demons, Drama, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, Fights, Friendship, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, My First AO3 Post, My First Work in This Fandom, Slow Burn, Witches, all that jazz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-07-29 01:22:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20073796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juniorhuntersam/pseuds/Juniorhuntersam
Summary: Yesterday evening everything had been alright, normal.But that was yesterday.Now Samantha and her friends were trapped in a world they didn't know, a place that they had never heard of before.Magic ruled their lives now, war and death looming over them like a dark cloud. They wanted nothing more but a way home, but would they really find one? And if they did at some point in the future, would they really want to go back?





	1. Parties & New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Samantha and some friends have fun at a gathering. The day doesn't end in the way Samantha expected.

_Dans mon esprit tout divague_  
_ Je me perds dans tes yeux_

Samantha stared out at the city from her balcony on the two-story home. She hadn’t been in the best place lately, so a gathering with her old friends seemed like a great idea. In hindsight, she realized she should’ve known it would turn into a house party.

As she listened to the music from the inside, being somewhat muffled due to the closed balcony door, she took soft breaths through her nose. The air around her felt weird, almost electric. She knew there must be something coming, something big. A storm, she thought, or something else entirely.

She’d never been that big on parties unless she's drunk enough alcohol to cloud her whole memory more so than usual. She hadn’t drunken much tonight, just the odd beer here and there. She definitely wasn’t sober, but she wasn’t tipsy either.

The fresh spring air waved her hair around and made her hand move to clear her vision. A soft sigh.

_Je me noie dans la vague de ton regard amoureux_  
_ Je ne veux que ton âme divaguant sur ma peau_

The french song in the background which had been played for the third time now slowly burned itself into her mind. She’d never even taken french in school and yet the words seemed so familiar. She knew she’d never be able to pronounce anything correctly but she didn’t mind. She was too focused on the song to really notice the footsteps coming in her direction.

“There you are!” a voice yelled, right beside Samantha’s ear. Samantha jumped up and looked to her left, looking at Jien, Lue’s younger sister. Her short copper hair was messed up more than usual, green eyes shining with excitement. “I was wondering where you were!”

She knew sooner or later someone would come looking for her, but she had hoped it wouldn’t be this soon. “I’m going back inside, don’t you worry.” She reassured the drunk girl. Oh dear.

Jien smiled softly and moved back to the actual party, the place where Samantha should be. Another soft breath escaped her lips as her feet carried her back inside and downstairs, the lingering smell of liquor and sweat making her want to turn right back. She smiled at her guests as she passed them, turning down a few offers to dance. She couldn’t dance, she never really did.  
She even greeted her slightly drunk little brother whom wasn’t really invited to the party but she could never say no to his puppy dog eyes.

“Hey hot stuff!” Lue, her best friend ever, yelled. Samantha’s lips immediately moved to be a bright smile, approaching her intoxicated sister from another mister. “What were you doing outside? alone? or were you with someone? huuuh?” she wiggled her eyebrows as Samantha’s cheeks lit up a bright pink. The song finally changed and Samantha sighed.

“I was alone. Ask your sister.” She finally said but Lue gave her the ‘really’-face.  
“My sister is drunk off her ass, you know that. She wouldn’t even have noticed if someone threw a boulder at her, seriously, she’d probably laugh anyway.”

Samantha laughed softly as she gazed around the room, looking at all her friends. She did indeed love them. They were her family, basically, now that she lived alone she only has her brother and her friends. Nothing more and nothing less.

Lue noticed how different her bestie seemed, more in thought than usual. And the worst was - she was barely drinking with her as usual. She knew something was up behind the scenes but she didn’t want to pry. If Samantha wanted to, she could tell her. She knows that.

Samantha’s mind was somewhere else, her skin buzzing with something she couldn’t quite place. She knew she could blame it on the weather, saying a storm could be coming up soon. Maybe she just couldn’t handle the alcohol tonight. Maybe her skin was buzzing with the need to play the violin. She’d never know, as Lue pulled her to the dancing mass of people, clearly drunk. She’d never do this without alcohol.

Jien was dancing nearby, a half drunk glass in her hand. Samantha knew she’d have to clean the mess all by herself next morning. Her thoughts and worries were ripped away promptly as she was brought to dance to “Golden Days” by Panic!At The Disco. She didn’t really want to admit it but she was having a lot of fun, the weird feeling now nothing but a little thought in the back of her head. Lue was having as much of a blast as Samantha, though her blood certainly had a higher percentage of alcohol in it at the current time.

The party lasted a few more hours until the last person got picked up. Samantha fell onto her sofa from exhaustion, her eyes closing slowly. Knowing she couldn’t fall asleep like this, or rather shouldn’t, she got up again and moved to her bedroom, leaving the mess downstairs for the morning to come. When she arrived in her bedroom she dropped her clothes, everything but her underwear. She pulled a loose and oversized AC/DC shirt over her head and dropped into her sheets with a smile.

The mess didn’t matter, the alcohol didn’t matter. Nothing mattered more in the moment than closing her eyes and getting some rest.

* * *

A soft breeze moved Samantha’s hair, the young woman’s grey eyes opening slowly. She was tired and had a terrible headache. She sat up and rubbed her head a bit, stretched her arms. Then it hit her.

She was outside. Somewhere she didn’t know.

Her eyes snapped open, suddenly awake, scrambling to stand. Around her she saw nothing but stones, dirt and a hell load of dust-clouds or fog surrounding the area. It was dark and she could barely see. The dust in the air made cough, the uneven ground scrape her feet open. She felt vulnerable, mostly because all she wore was her underwear and an AC/DC shirt. She thought she must’ve been dreaming, she wasn’t really there, but she couldn’t wake up. She pinched herself and scraped her foot open by taking another few steps. She bled and coughed, her eyes teary and possibly irritated due to the condition she was currently in.

She arrived at a staircase, looking up she could faintly see a shining figure. Thinking this could be her way out, an exit, her escape into the real world, she started running as fast as her feet would allow her to. Hearing a strange noise as she ran, she turned a little only to see gigantic spiders crawling toward her. More panic settled in her stomach and adrenaline pumped through her veins more than ever before, she ran and ran until she jumped and climbed up a wall. She didn’t want to die like this, she reached out to the hand of the glowing figure, just wanting a way out. A hand to hold. A little reassurance.

She saw white and felt like her body was being pricked with a million needles, falling unconscious yet again.


	2. Warrior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Samantha finds herself in a strange place. She meets new people and is in a state of constant embarrassment, seemingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all like the story so far. I'm straying from the actual game a bit, but I hope that it's still enjoyable :,)  
I'm an amateur writer but I genuinely love this game so much.. had to write a story.

“What’s your name, stranger?” The red-haired woman asked, a strange accent reminiscent of french laced within, “and what is your involvement with the breach?”

,,Breach?” Samantha wondered out loud, panic rising inside her chest. Not only was she trapped in a place that she didn’t know with heavily armored people, but she was also possibly accused of committing a crime she couldn’t even understand. The cold stone floor bore into her naked skin as she shivered softly, the tee barely covering her body. Before anyone could answer another armed guard walked inside the dimly lit room and threw Samantha a coat of some sorts. She took it and quickly pulled it over, immediately feeling a little more comfortable despite the situation she had found herself in.

“Yes. The breach. Don’t try to deny it! We found you where the breach is, stranger!” the brown haired woman yelled, making Samantha flinch back. The deadly look she got from her made Samantha wonder if she’ll die in the next few minutes.

“We still need her, Cassandra. She could possibly close the breach again!” the red-haired woman said. Samantha tried to remember that the scary woman’s name is Cassandra.

Just in that moment Samantha felt pain in her left hand going up her left arm, again feeling like a thousand - or million - needles piercing her skin at once. She held her hand and cried out, the pain overwhelming her quite a bit. Looking at the source of her pain her face paled.

A green line, looking similar to a cut, covered the whole inside of her hand. She felt horrified and would’ve stared for longer if the pain wasn’t currently feeling like her arm would rip apart at any second. The red haired woman kneeled down to Samantha.

“Many people died. Did you kill them?”

Samantha didn’t know how to answer. On the one hand, she knew she’d never want to kill people, but at the same time she doesn’t even remember how the hell she’d gotten this sickly green cut. Not trusting her voice, she simply shook her head for ‘no’ and looked at the blue eyes in front of her.

“Let us go outside. Show her what happened. My name is Leliana, by the way. If you do need to address me.” Leliana said, helping Samantha get back on her feet. She looked around at all of the guards and just sighed.

Cassandra disappeared for a short moment but returned with proper clothes for Samantha, handing her additional pants and boots. Samantha changed quickly, trying to ignore the people in the room. She had never felt more embarrassed in her life.  
The room that felt so cold before slowly seemed to heat up more and more with each passing minute, Samantha wasn’t sure if that was simply because of her new clothes or because she actually slowly came to again.

Leliana showed her the way out, together with Cassandra, and she stared. Stared at the snow, the ice, and oh my god, _that’s what they meant._  
_That is the breach._  
She couldn’t believe her own eyes, everything was different yet familiar at the same time. She felt an overwhelming amount of feelings, good and bad, washing over her like waves.  
She felt home, yet so out of place.

“and … many people died?” Samantha asked, trying not to seem insensitive. Cassandra sighed softly and moved her gaze down to look at her feet.  
Leliana stared ahead at the green monstrosity, answering Samantha’s question after a brief moment of silence.

“Many. Templars and mages, the council died. We still don’t understand how you could survive, or who you are.”  
Samantha’s head snapped to Leliana. ‘Mages’. Did she hear correctly?  
“I’m Samantha. I’m neither a.. uh.. Mage or a … Templar… whatever those are.”

Leliana stifled a small chuckle with her hand, looking at her. “You mean to tell me you don’t know what templars are?”  
Samantha felt almost offended, then again those people probably hadn’t encountered someone like her thus far. She just nodded.

“I will go and speak to the Grand Chancellor. Cassandra, prisoner, I will speak with you two later.”

* * *

Cassandra took Samantha through the Valley, her pain getting worse by the minute. Her thoughts wandered off, suddenly landing with her friends and her brother. She teared up at the realization, if this wasn’t a dream - and it surely didn’t feel like one although she’d like to believe it is one - she’d never see them again. She’d never get to hang out with her bestie again, hug her brother or get shouted in the ear by one of her very loud friends.

Suddenly, Cassandra stopped and drew her sword. Samantha stared at her as she fought, but she also didn’t want to stand around. She felt the urge to protect herself. Sle looked to her left and grabbed the gigantic sword with both hands despite the pain, and started trying to hit the green ghostly apparition. To her surprise, she did hit it. She smiled, proud of herself for actually pulling through with this.

Her glory did not last long though, as Cassandra moved and pointed her sword at Samantha. “Disarm immediately!”

Samantha frowned and went to put down the sword. “Alright, okay, I’ll disarm. Just don’t stab me.”  
Cassandra grunted slightly and looked Samantha over once. “Keep the sword. I can’t let you go around unarmed.” She sheathed her sword and turned around. “I should also remember that you came with me willingly.”

Both of them continued their journey to Leliana and the Grand Chancellor in the forward camp in rather blissful silence. Cassandra hadn’t the need to ask Samantha everything that came to mind. She also didn’t feel the need to tell her how suspicious the whole situation was since it started. Her, the lone survivor and a gigantic, green, ghastly column reaching into the sky.

The silence gave Samantha time to think about her family, her friends at home. Wherever home was now. Her little brother she’d abandoned. Lue, who will forever wonder where her best friend went. Jien and Grace who will have nobody to scream at anymore.. except for each other. Sence, the shy guy that barely talks to anybody and just so talks to Samantha enough for her to consider him a good friend. He’d be so lonely now and Samantha felt guilty for some reason, despite the fact that she had no intentions on leaving her home.

And then, she realized, she’s alone now too. Nobody that knows her.  
Thus, loneliness engulfed her heart. Sadness clouding her brain.  
‘this is it’, she thought, ‘my new life’.


	3. A Mage and A Rogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Samantha and Cassandra meet new friends (more or less).

The way up the stairs hadn’t been easy for Samantha. In fact, no part of getting to the stairs had been easy for her. Fighting against demons and spirits, feeling dread every step of the way as the cold air slowly gnawed away at her skin and patience altogether. With every step forward the cut - or mark - on her hand glowed more and felt more and more like it will rip apart her entire hand. Samantha told herself to pull through.

“We’re getting close to the rift! You can hear the fighting!” Cassandra said from behind Samantha, the latter being overly confused.

“Who’s fighting!?” She asked, turning her head a bit to look at Cassandra for a moment. The determination in Cassandra’s eyes was eminent, almost taking over Samantha herself despite her anxious gut-feeling. She turned back to the front so she wouldn’t trip over any of the steps covered in ice.

“You’ll see soon. We must help them!” Cassandra retorted, a hint of nervosity laced in her tone.

The air was filled with the smell of freshly fallen snow and dread at the same time as they approached the fighting group of people. Samantha grabbed her sword and raised it, swinging it enemy upon enemy. Cassandra noted of this, her fast learning and adapting to a whole new world.

* * *

With all enemies dead, a bald, elven man grabbed Samantha’s wrist and pointed it towards the Rift, shouting “Quickly, before more come through!”; then sickly green ray shot from Samantha’s hand. This didn’t go over just as smoothly; Samantha felt like her arm would be ruptured, slowly cut open, ripped apart. A few tears escaped her eye as the Fade Rift closed once and for all, the man then dropping Samantha’s hand.

“What did you do?!” Samantha asked, clearly taken aback by the stranger and what just happened. The pain in her hand slowly faded away to a dull ache, just a fraction of what she’d felt just moments before.

“I did nothing. The credit is yours.” The man said, looking at Samantha as she inspected her hand.

“At least this is good for something.” She said, mostly to herself than to anyone else.

Then the man continued; “Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky also placed that markupom your hand.”, Samantha looked at the mark on her hand, glowing with the same green light as before, going right across from left to right. She almost felt sick, but she blamed it upon this new situation.  
“I theorized the mark might be able to close the Rifts that have opened in the Breach’s wake - and it seems I was correct.”

Cassandra slowly approached, now also interested in this conversation. “Meaning it could also close the Breach itself.”

“Possibly.” The mans attention was back towards Samantha, “It seems you hold the key to our salvation.”

Another voice chimed in, another man but significantly smaller in height than the others. Samantha didn’t mind very much, she wondered if it meant something special though. The bald man had pointy ears, the other was smaller than everyone she’d seen up until now and Cassandra was taller than she herself was, which made the ‘scary woman’ only scarier. “Good to know! Here I was, thinking we’d be ass-deep in demons forever.”

He now approached Samantha, speaking whilst walking; “Varric Tethras. Rogue, Storyteller and occasionally unwelcome tagalong.”

“It’s good to meet you, Varric.” Samantha said, unsure of who to trust yet, and if she should even trust anyone here.

“You may reconsider that stance in time.” The bald man said with a smile and a hint of humor in hs voice. “Aww, I’m sure we’ll become great friends in the Valley, Chuckles.” Varric answered the man with a smile.

Now it seemed as it was Cassandra’s turn to chime in again; “Absolutely not. Your help is appreciated, Varric, but…”  
Varric cut her off, “Have you been in the Valley lately, Seeker? Your soldiers aren’t in control anymore. You need me.”

Cassandra scoffed at Varric and turned away. She knew he was right even if she didn’t show it or admit it. They could use any help they could get, whether it be a prisoner with a strange mark on her hand or a rogue.

“My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions. I am pleased to see you still live.” The bald man - Solas, as Samantha tried to note in her mind - said as Cassandra possibly contemplated a million ways to get rid of varric.

The latter threw in his two cents; “He means, ‘I kept that Mark from killing you while you slept.'”

Samantha smiled in gratitude. “That’s a commendable attitude. Thank you.”

Solas responded, “Merely a sensible one. Although sense appears to be in short supply right now.”, He turned and looked at Cassandra to further elaborate, “Cassandra, you should know. The magic involved here is unlike any I have seen. Your prisoner is no mage. Indeed, I find it difficult to imagine _any_ mage having such power.”

Cassandra nodded and said a simple “Understood”

Samantha looked at who she’d gathered around until now. A warrior woman named Cassandra that seems scary at times, a mage with pointy ears called Solas that somehow seems to know a great deal about the Breach and the mark and a smaller version of a human - dare she say a dwarf? - called Varric with a sharp tongue and wits to his sentences despite the seriousness in the situation.  
She wasn’t sure if she could trust them fully, but she knew she’d have to cut them some slack because apparently, their lives rested on her shoulders. A heavy burden to carry.

“We must get to the forward camp quickly.” cassandra said and immediately took off, Samantha stopping a moment to take this all in.

Varric moved from behind her and sighed. “Well, Bianca’s excited!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it's good so far, only three chapters and we're getting close to the forward camp and slowly closer to Haven.  
Your comments and kudos encourage me to keep writing <3


	4. Thoughts

Meeting new people has never been her strong point. In fact, she’s always been quite introverted. How she came to meet and befriend all the people back in her home was a mystery to her, she’d never loved anyone more though - they were her second family, the one she chose. 

Walking with her new companions through the mountains made her realize how much smaller she actually was than the world, it gave her another view. She knew she was small in their universe, but if there were more universes how could she ever mean anything?  
How could a piece as little as her be important in the big mosaic of the universe, this story?

None of it made sense to her; traveling universes, the always imminent threat from demons or something of that sort. She found herself in a place she never really wanted to be in, yet it felt right.

Thinking back to when she was just a girl in school, or when she was at her first party or when she got so drunk she somehow scraped her knee open bloody and, that was the strangest part, could remember the whole party and how many shots she’d had, but not how she scraped open that knee. She still has a light scar, faded but visible, down her knee. A small scoff left her lip remembering that, her gaze moving to her clothed knee with the scar.

She looked around her, the snow still falling, the cold slowly getting through her clothes. it looked beautiful, if it wasn’t for her knowing that there were demons around. Ghosts. Dangerous things. The cloud she’d kept at bay for so long slowly crept back into her conscious mind. Bottom lip quivering and eyes watering, she pushed on. Kept going as she always has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a really really short filler chapter because i'm quite literally just having a writers block with this one  
sorry bout that  
i'm tryin to write something else to get some inspiration back inside my head  
just something to shape protagonist's character a bit more and show her thoughts on everything going on
> 
> Love y'all


End file.
